Week 6 – Race/Ethnicity and Migration

15 Replies to “Week 6 – Race/Ethnicity and Migration”

“The long-lasting legacy of the great migration by Isabel Wilkerson Millions of African-Americans: the people of the Great Migration proved the worldview of the enslavers a lie, that the people who were forced into the field and whipped for learning to read could do far more than pick cotton, scrub floors. Perhaps, deep down, the enslavers always knew that. Perhaps that is one reason they worked so hard at such a brutal system of subjugation. Fled the South in search of a better life, they remade the nation in ways that are still being felt.” It showed the shift from an agricultural-based economy into an industrial-based economy. The shift of political tolerance of African Americansmigration among southern African Americans were segregation, an increase in the spread of racist ideology, widespread lynching. Also, this shows the declaration was a declaration of independence.

According to the article named caravan of hope by DEBRA ADAMS SIMMONS talks about how a photographer MOISES SAMAN capture the pictures that describe the emotion of migration people going through a difficult journey just with a hope of better life. In all of his pictures the pictures talks for itself with giving a real feeling of those situations. All of these pictures also teach how they had the guts to leave everything behind and come to country like U.S. where everything is so different than their place and start a new life. In the you tube video about politics and myths of immigration also talks about the immigrant people who are often being target by the politicians and called alien. But looking to the video it also talks about how immigrants are being misunderstood by the native people in the U.S.. Immigrants are not criminals or neither they are taking jobs instead the source says they are the one with less crime rate because they have the fear of getting out of the country and that’s what is making them work hard everyday in order to live a good life here. Also the job they mostly do actually helping the community. Although the only problem that can be noticeable is most of them are still stuck with their culture and language. This might impact the Americans but at the same time their second generation are being raised here with the culture and the language in school to everywhere they go and becoming Americans. But I still think most of the immigrants trying their best to be as white people to live here and therefore we shouldn’t blame them for every bad thing that happens here.

The Simmons essay and the Politics and Myths of Immigration video both describe the millions of people that try to enter the United States illegally for a better future. I believe migration should be regulated for the people that really deserve to enter and to stay in the country. A background policy should be tolerated by the government.

Examining the pictures of El Salvador taken by Moises Saman and watching the video “Politics and Myths of immigration,” gave me a glimpse into how grateful American citizens should be and the struggle illegal immigrants encounter trying to cross the border to reach America for a stable life and hopefully future. According to the video several claims were made that the negative remarks made against immigrants in our country are usually myths and are not always true. For instance the video claimed immigrants create jobs rather take them and immigrants come to this country to work, whereas not collect welfare from the government. However the pictures and conversation between National Geographic and Moises Saman discusses the motive and conditions of the migrant caravan’s journey to America. Saman tells the audience how violence in El Salvador is a typical normal behavior for the people there and there are use to this violence everyday. The pictures show tearful emotion of human beings crying for help and kneeling during a prayer service. The battle to reach United States is not an easy mission for the Salvadorian people, they fear for their lives, yet take the risk for a hopeful, peaceful and positive life in America.

I have chosen “Debra Adams Simmons, Caravan of Hope in National Geographic magazine” and the “ Politics and Myths of Immigration video” for many reasons. I am concerned because, being an immigrant myself, I am worried about President Trump’s anti-immigration policies and politics. The president wants Americans to believe that immigrants coming into the United States creates a dangerous situation for those who live here. As explained in the video, He wants people to believe that “immigrants take jobs away from American”, “collect public benefits” and “commit large amount of crimes”. Anti-Immigrations rhetoric says, “immigrants take jobs away from working-class Americans”, it has shown that “it is a falsehood”, most immigrants will work in jobs that working class Americans would not do. Also, the pictures captured by Saman, show that many immigrants want to better their lives and will do anything in order to improve their living conditions. So, immigrants improve America and they are not dangerous to American people’s lives and their working jobs.

“the Great Migration would expose the racial divisions and disparities that in many ways continue to plague the nation and dominate headlines today, from police killings of unarmed African-Americans to mass incarceration to widely documented biases in employment, housing, health care and education. This quote is very important because”
The real life is that migration has many advantages and disadvantages . In this case the disadvantage of migration is that people who migrated want to have a power in the new place. So this power represent dangerous for the people who live in those places because they do not want to lose their power and culture. For this reason they created a segregation for the migration people. No matter that this segregation affect physically and psychology as African-American. The African- American was an example of a population that wants to have a little power in America. So when this happens the government created a rules which they can control Africa-American.

As I saw the piece on “Politics and Myths of Immigration” by the Daily News and read the “Caravan of Hope” by Debra Adams Simmons and the photographs by Moises Saman. it created a great sense of frustration in me, as a first generation Mexican American creates a contemplative situation. I see the photos that Saman took of the Central American people bathing in the river and traveling around in Oaxaca. The memories of family members telling me their experiences of the crossing and how dangerous but rewarding the journey will be. Then I remember it’s a fact that there’s violence and death because of illegal immigration and it has enabled smugglers of people, drugs, weapons, and more. Border security is important and effective when executed efficiently, but stopping families, kids, young women and men, and much more looking for a better life goes against what this country was built upon. As the video stated my mother came to this country to work and built a better life for me and my sister. Not to steal someone’s job or produce crime, I am bias but that’s because just as my beliefs are with the people of Central America and in the hope that one day this country will eventually have an open door policy once again for everyone. There’s people with power and the counter beliefs to make that impossible. I do believe that one day that will shift, it’ll take progress but it’s possible.

The quote I chose was “They left as though they were fleeing some curse” From the Isabel Wilkerson article, African Americans felt the need to migrate since they were being lynched a week. It also states in the article that “between 1880 and 1950, an African-American was lynched more than once a week for some perceived breach of the racial hierarchy”. Essentially what this is saying is that since they were being killed and they were being underpaid for the jobs they were doing, they had to leave to find a place that was suitable for them as well as ensuring a better lifestyle for themselves.

That in the reading about the Great Migration many African Americans did so in order to escape the extreme racism and discrimination of the south. During the time period from 1880 to 1950 an African American was likely lynched once a week which comes to show the time that the great migration occurred. The African American population had shifted from when the migration began to when the 1970s occurred with about half of the population moving to the north or the west. The great migration made strides for African Americans as it opened up new experiences and opportunities to fight for their rights and their humanity.

“When African-Americans sought to move their families to more favorable conditions, they faced a hardening structure of policies and customs designed to maintain racial exclusion. Restrictive covenants, introduced as a response to the influx of black people during the Great Migration, were clauses written into deeds that outlawed African-Americans from buying, leasing or living in properties in white neighborhoods, with the exception, often explicitly spelled out, of servants.” I chose this quote because demonstrates the struggles that people of color face even after being declared free and even after migrating. There was still clear signs of segregation and because of policies they were being deny the right to own houses or even live in “white neighborhoods” unless they were servants. Regardless of the desire to go and move to a better place it was purposely made difficult because of the large amount of people of color that were migrating in order to make the transition extremely difficult.

“The 20th century was largely an era of migrating and marching until freedom, by law and in their hearts, was won” the stories of many brave men and women are told in this great article “The long-lasting legacy of the great mission”. Activists, protesters and determined civilians fought to end racism. It was a war on both sides for African Americans it was to be accepted and treated like everyone else, however for white people, it was to stay in power and continue the division between black and white. The victories for African Americans like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Earl Jones and many more are great examples for every generation to see that we can always overcome and end hate. The Great Migration has a deep impact on activism and social justice. Migrations have always been full of obstacles whether if you were an African American family trying to escape to the south or a central American fleeing their country to find a better future in the U.S. The photographer captures all the determination and frustration that the immigrants portray in order to cross the border.

The quotation I chose was “They left as though they were fleeing some curse” From the Isabel Wilkerson article, African Americans felt the need to migrate since they were being lynched a week. In the article it also states that “between 1880 and 1950, an African-American was lynched more than once a week for some perceived breach of the racial hierarchy.” This quotation explains that people were being killers and being unpaid for jobs that they were doing. Which made the people flee looking for a place that would be welcoming and not dying from their job and they would a better environment and lifestyle for everyone that left.

In he article the
quote that stood out to me the most was “the Great Migration would expose the racial divisions and disparities that in many ways continue to plague the nation and dominate headlines today, from police killings of unarmed African-Americans to mass incarceration to widely documented biases in employment, housing, health care” the movement was such a Kaotic time for African Americans and made it so hard for them to continue living not only fear of getting killed but not having these other things to support them.

“the Great Migration would expose the racial divisions and disparities that in many ways continue to plague the nation and dominate headlines today, from police killings of unarmed African-Americans to mass incarceration to widely documented biases in employment, housing, health care and education.

I choose this quote because it reminds me of how employers hold a lot of bias in the hiring process with Latino and Black people. Also bias with ones employment and education based on race .